Sunday, March 22, 2009

We couldn't get out of town for Spring Break this year, since Carley had just started her new job only 4 weeks earlier, so we tried to find some fun little excursions around town.

Along with the Elvis birthplace museum, the Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo (pictured above; photo used without permission) is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the area. We've often seen the buffalo grazing in the big meadow across from the local airport as we drive past, but we'd never gone in to check it out before.

Much of the park is like a small zoo, and we walked around a path checking out the variety of animals in their undersized cages and pens. Rowan was especially impressed with the giraffes!

We were allowed to feed some of the animals, and these giraffes were especially fun, with their giant tongues! To "heighten" the experience, the park provides an elevated feeding platform where we could be more on their level.

Besides the llamas and emus above, some other animals we perused included everything from barnyard goats and horses to a lion, a tiger, a bear, a couple of monkeys, some noisy parrots, and even some kangaroos. We never did get up close to the buffalo, as we would have needed to take a half-hour bus ride through the safari section of the park. It was all a bit overwhelming for Rowan, who started losing interest as soon as we got to animals that we weren't allowed to feed.

He was much more interested in playing peek-a-boo inside the teepee!

Rowan's first pony ride really brightened his day, and he seemed awestruck as the animal under him walked around the circle like a miniature live carousel.

It's a good bet that we'll be back sometime again when Rowan is older and better able to appreciate some of what he's seeing. Meanwhile, we may decide to put off that trip to the Memphis Zoo for a little while.

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